In the game of lacrosse, players use sticks to receive and shoot a ball. Lacrosse sticks generally include an elongated shaft and a head frame. The player grips a handle located toward the butt end of the shaft, and utilizes the head frame, which includes mesh, to receive and shoot the ball during play.
Decades ago, some lacrosse sticks were manufactured as one-piece, integral wooden structures. Such sticks were not only difficult and costly to fabricate, but owing to their unitary mechanical properties, also limited the maneuvers that a player could execute. For example, the stiff wood, while necessary for shaft strength, was poorly suited to the head frame; the lack of flexibility would, for example, limit the player's ability to scoop up the ball from the ground or make it more difficult for a player to receive a hard pass without feeling excessive vibrations.
As a result, it has become commonplace to fabricate lacrosse sticks using a shaft element formed of straight grained wood, or wood laminate, or a tough, lightweight metallic or reinforced plastic tubular element and to affix to the forward end of the shaft a flexible head frame (composed, for example, of a tough synthetic thermoplastic material such as high impact-strength nylon). Indeed, most lacrosse sticks today are sold as separate head and shaft portions.
A typical head frame for a lacrosse stick includes a socket to receive the forward end of the shaft. The shaft is then coupled to the head frame by a fastener, such as a screw. One problem with such a construction is that the connection between the head frame and shaft may loosen during play, compromising the player's ability to effectively control his stick. Worse, in some instances the head frame may detach entirely from the shaft.
Some lacrosse sticks exist that reinforce the connection between the head frame and the shaft to prevent disengagement of the head frame from the shaft. Unfortunately, regardless of reinforcement or attachment techniques, the head frame may still loosen or become detached over time. What is needed, then, is a lacrosse stick that integrates a head frame and a shaft into a unitary construction that does not become loosened or disengaged, but still retains flexibility in the head frame and rigidity in the shaft.